skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Yeah totally agree. I've got about 8 years under my belt (first proper coding job in '04 and I'm 32 now, notwithstanding a lifetime tinkering with computers though). Still loving it and learning new things every day, hope it stays that way :) I guess the point I was trying to make is the metric people expect to hear, especially in a work environment is years of experience in the Industry (capital "I") getting paid. I don't dispute that you have a internal metric too, which is awesome. I guess you have to compare like with like though.
You probably would not get hired.

Probably not. But what does that say about this particular technique?

There's the ability to explain something, and there's the ability to perform under sudden pressure.

I would give candidates some period of time (say, 10 minutes, if they needed that long) to select a topic first.
I just went on and played against someone called G...Maybe from HN? Anyway, fun game, pretty slick. I'm loving the stuff people are doing with HTML5. Well done!
Microsoft is not buying Nokia. They think it's better make their own (zune) phone. How hard can it be?
That's not entirely true, since Navteq has a strong presence in the auto industry in Japan.
Really? How do I write zero in your system? (as in the number of apples I have if I have none at all)

If octal uses the digits 0-7, and binary uses the digits 0-1, then shouldn't base one use only the digit 0?
Great game, well done!
Expecting inevitable new features - Facebook integration, leaderboards, powerups, chat, AI....

Good luck
Visualizing progress on github issues
Visualizing progress on github issues
Looks great! would you be supporting full screen support for 1366 x 768 (with no scrollbars)?
the results were obtained with a relatively general purpose learning algorithm. No extraction of SIFT features, no "hough circle transform to find eyes and noses".

This deserves even more emphasis. All of the other teams were writing tons of domain specific code to implement fancy feature detectors that are the results of years of in-depth research and the subject of many PhDs. The machine learning only comes into play after the manually-coded feature detectors have preprocessed the data.

Meanwhile, the SuperVision team fed raw RGB pixel data directly into their machine learning system and got a much better result.
"The key to being a deep learner is in using unsupervised learning to seed ..."

Exactly! that was my whole point which doesn't makes sense now that the title had changed.

"Also, Multilayered Kernel learners already exist"

I didn't know that and I'll check that shortly, thanks for the info.
> Is it the fact that they bought a lot of risky debt at low prices? That is how risk works;

The risk was already taken by the original lender, it was risk of default and was the reason for charging interest. The ability to default by declaring bankruptcy is a legal principal which distinguishes our society from a barbarous past full of relentless loan sharks.

So The risk assumed by debt collectors is less legitimate, and a collector's claim is on shakier legal basis (even less consensus in international law, of course). Societal norms change, children no longer inherit the debt of their parents. IMO, personal bankruptcy ought to default student loans (in the US, it no longer does due to a recent law). Hatred of debt collectors goes back to biblical times, and for good reason.
Really well done & polished. Had a few moments where the lag made it unbearable but besides that it works as expected.
Also, the link in the GP post that contains proof of a world government run by an artificially intelligent quantum computer has no place on Hacker News. Keep your awe inspiring, jaw dropping news with wide reaching social, moral, and technological implications to yourself!
Hmm... are you sure the problem isn't unfounded accusations???
Perhaps some lost startup will pivot to providing single number relay service using twilio or similar. Each phone number would be unique to a relay/deaf customer pair.
It gets laggy sometimes and forgets the name you chose (changes it to a color). Still very cool.
Setting aside for a second I couldn't find much that would be too risky for most workplaces, you clicked on a link was about comics while you were at work. What, honestly, did you expect to see?

Also, I'd find it hard to be sympathetic were you sacked for browsing a social media site and reading about how to sell comics while you were at work.
I like it. It's pretty close to my favorite one: "What's your favorite algorithm?"
Apple reportedly wants to ditch Intel chips in Macs, hire its own SoC designer
Your rant could be applicable if it were directed at an appropriate situation. This is not that situation.

A major problem with racism is that it's a Schelling point for assholes. I presume the entire department isn't made up of racists, yet it takes just a few assholes to make it a hostile racist environment. OP's next gig may involve assholes as well, but those assholes (hopefully) won't be using the same insults, singling OP out, or abusing the same sore spots that OP sees throughout his life. Letting the common assholes devolve into racism makes it so OP would be unlikely to find somewhere free of being specifically picked on due to something he cannot change.

(Hellbanning as a moderation system is unfortunate. If you are who I think you are, I suspect that the specter of inevitable banning is causing you to go for a shotgun comment approach rather than taking the time to compose something less emotional and more defensible)
This is a great little game. Just played a few rounds and had a blast but hit some nasty lag a few times. The basic game play is quite addictive. Nice job.
Personally I think these laws are likely fundamentally flawed anyway, as hiring is subjective.
I believe the right mental model is the first step towards understanding coding or computers. The easiest way to start for a kid might be with something that interests them - like creating shapes/graphics.
(I am grateful for my school introducing me to programming via logo when I was nine)

I've been at it 2 weeks now trying to teach my grandma how a computer works. She now understands how a processor works, what is a software program, etc.

I made my grandma dictate code to make me dance giving her exactly 4 commands (moves) I could take (I am a 2-bit processor ;) ). We had fun! Ha. So she coded. No computers.
I could also explain processor speed, n-bit processors, different instruction sets, instructions that need operands, etc. Of course I used none of these words.
Correlation != causation

Possible example (I'm not saying I support this thesis): maybe women naturally go for less risky ventures?
The thing is if you're good at this, it translates into real work performance. So I almost don't care if people have "cheated" and studied up on the question. None of the people I've hired suddenly stopped communicating well on the job after doing well on this question.
0 = 1

1 = 11

2 = 111

3 = 1111, etc.
{1,2,3...} and {0,1,2...} are isomorphic.
CloudSpring | Deploying CakePHP apps on AppFog the right wayCloudSpring
Amazon Lowers Cloud Drive Prices
Amazon Lowers Cloud Drive Prices
Avon Authors Forum: Profile of Jerico
Well, at the same time, I wouldn't be able to do my job if I didn't have the ability to perform under sudden pressure.
I'm not sure going in to a job interview is 'sudden pressure'. You've often had days or weeks in preparation for that 30-60 minute meeting.
My initial feeling is that the most crud left behind is from professional fakers, aka menial labor from India/Phils/etc. That's where one can buy fake reviews en masse.

That explains point 1, 2, 3, 5 and possibly even point 4. (working time difference, and cheap equipment.)

The key to detecting fake accounts is tractability. That's why FB logins are gold. You can look at the account and - most of the time - it is easy to tell if it's real or fake.

The problem is that many sites want volume, not quality. They just let anyone "add content". This is a an easily solvable problem that most sites do not actually care to solve.
I dunno. What if my non-professional hobbies are controversial, or simply derided? I see no reason prospective employers should know that I'm a socialist or enjoy anime conventions, and many of them would almost certainly disapprove of one of those two.
I love interviewers' tips, upvoted. However, it's not clear to me how Kevin is able to "ask a question early in the 5 minutes that is a complete tangent and has little to do with their goal" to see if they "say no". As much as you want to test the candidate's confidence, you have to ask a relevant question. Maybe an example could help?
> I'm not sure we can easily get out of it, but perhaps now... with a somewhat renewed focus on semantic markup and better CSS in browsers, we could encourage browsers to treat "user-specified" styling as a first class function of what it means to be a 'browser'?

Opera does this. I have a drop-down on the bottom of my window which will load in local .css files on top of sites. You can write your own, and Opera has a good selection out-of-the-box. I'm not disabled, but I will sometimes switch into the "Accessibility" layout when a site's style/layout starts annoying me. It's very readable, and very easy on the eyes. You're right that most sites need to play good with their own HTML to support this, but my experience is that it works when I want it to work.

Unrelated, but this feature is also useful for debugging. Several of the styles serve to make the HTML structure more visible on the page.
Yes, which is why HR departments will generally make digital copies of these materials available, i.e. for use with on-screen magnification or TTS.
Can someone who can't use a mouse navigate your site? How about if they can't use a keyboard?

I test on my ipad and iphone for usability. I plan on having mobi export so you can use a kindle if you want.

Can your default styles be over-ridden? Does it grow gracefully, or is content suddenly hidden?

The base font is 14pt with additional spacing between lines. The navigation won't degrade well but the body content should be fine though it might wrap oddly.

Have you checked your color contrasts for the color blind?

I do actually. I regularly use OSX's accessiblity tools to use grayscale or high contrast mode. I also have a badly-balanced lcd screen for testing if the text is still readable without proper color balance. The site is primarily black on light gray so I don't have many problems with that.

Are ads constantly looping animations?

No ads, currently. I doubt I will ever add them but if I do they will be static and only on index pages.

What fonts are you using?

$sansFontFamily: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
$serifFontFamily: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
$monoFontFamily: Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, "Courier New", monospace;

Does it have a consistant navigation?

Edit links tend to be in the same place everywhere on the site. Still working on that. Delete buttons are always bright red on the bottom left of the edit screen. I hid them a bit on purpose since I would prefer people to archive stuff instead of deleting it.

What about the content? Is there any attempt to make it as readable as possible? Or are the authors long-winded? Is text broken up into reasonably sized paragraphs? Are sections effectively used? Is there abuse of all-caps or italics?

I have very little control over writing quality. It's a place for people to share their writing. I do a lot to mitigate the damage normal people like to inflict on readability but I can't force them to use paragraphs, capital lettters, or typography properly. I can only insure that all the text is in the same font and size for everyone's submissions. (I don't allow authors to increase or decrease font size. All html is prestyled with minimal room for adjustment.)
I was wondering the same thing, looks like a variation on the 'user contributed content' site, for which there are a bunch. If you want to run such a site in this era of copyright litigation you need to clear access rights for every image you put up.
For those who can't see the page - the answer is 42.
The author is specific about Saas. Does this apply to apps /games on a Marketplace like Google Play or Apple's app store? Just curious.
Giving credit where it's due - this is a famous Google interview question. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230491110457644...
This is one of my favorite interview questions as well! I originally got the idea from an autobiography of an early Google employee; apparently this was one of Sergey's favorite questions.

Definitely helps you see how effective people are at organizing their thinking and communicating it effectively.
thanks, i was wondering if there was something like that, but couldn't imagine how it would work (i deleted my other answer earlier because it seemed to all be getting a bit unpleasant; i still think that sentence from the article is pretty inoffensive).
First working build for Open webOS on Galaxy Nexus released
I love your terminology, I'm going to use this in the future instead of just saying 'corporate'.
I only knew of Warren Ellis because of his webcomic FreakAngels:

http://www.freakangels.com

which, ironically considering the title, is free (though it does have a print version and associated merchandise)

Now that I read his bio on Wikipedia I realize he's a big name:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Ellis
Nicholas C. Zakas' Thoughts on TypeScript
What they don't tell you about dating sites
An insight into what happens to user data when they join a dating site.
> Sentences were long and atmospheric, rather than short, quick and active.

Interestingly, I think the larger frequency of 'of' actually suggests this. I suspect the Silmarillion (I haven't read it in ... a decade maybe?) has a far more complicated web of relationships–not just between characters, but between places; at the very least, it concerns itself with genealogies more.
The first comedy response to this article: http://betabeat.com/2012/10/unsuspecting-5-year-old-girl-bei...
How to make many-to-one mapping in java with Hibernate
Could always try a little CloudFlare to handle the load.
That depends. Those who like reading folklore and legends actually appreciate such style.
we plan to switch to AWS too. Amazon has so many services, you need to learn how to combine them. May be a new job title will become hot in the further: AWS Architect.
Play Powderkeg
While I love Spacechem, it's probably too difficult for young children to enjoy.
That is amazing.

That said, after the first game it was very laggy.
I will always program, for myself, solving my problems, exploring my interests.

I doubt I will always program for someone else, solving their problems. I'm sure I'll do it for another 8yrs at least. Which will put me at 50.
Edit: I think I hold exclusively controversial hobbies / books / opinions. I would love this question so much if I ever saw it in an interview. Controversial topics seem to be perfectly suited to this question.

Original:

The point of an interview is two-fold: the company is looking to find a good match for an open position, and the candidate is looking for work. Neither of you wants to enter an agreement that will turn sour.

It is a reasonable position that if you have no interests, or hobbies, or any read books at all that you are comfortable talking about with your employer, that you are likely a poor fit for the company. The topic does not have to be non-professional, either. Pick something that relates to the job if you must.

Isn't about half the world's population somewhat socialist? Or fans of anime? Those two examples you picked are, in my opinion, absolutely ideal topics to answer this question with. Why would you be so afraid to talk about them?
I like it too. So not everyone finds it hard to read. But it's not some casual fantasy for sure.
How do you handle false positives? Or is that the responsibility of the site using your service?
Awesome UserScript to Preview Image Links and Save Time
Nice to see your work out where it can do some good!

One of the most amazing things about running a search engine was getting a look at what bad people look for (like php exploits or out of date Wordpress themes).

I keep wondering if there is an opportunity for a 'fraudster alert' service like the Realtime Black Hole lists where members could share IP addresses from which has originated fraudulent or hostile traffic, seems like it would make suppression easier.
It's for the shareholders to minimize legal liability.

Anyone can spout as much talk about relaxed, casual, kick ass, rockstar, ninja-like, and whatever the newest buzz word is to describe their workplace, but it just takes one bad incident (or sometimes one overly touchy person, not saying the victim here was though) to have to walk on the eggshells of avoiding lawsuits. In any case, my bet is that the sensitivity training won't even be taken very seriously, but I think the actual shake-up will definitely spark some change.

My concern is now that the people fired will probably be even more racist rather than less so because of said punishments, and look again for a safe outlet to spew their hate. They may have learned for their own sake to keep it out of the workplace, but don't think it just got "nipped in the bud". Someone else is going to have to deal with this on what will most likely be a worse level.
Ask HN: Your advice for a high peak-traffic website
Hi all,

If I'm building a PHP website which is expected to withstand some big peaks in traffic (think big publication articles or a popular link on HN), what are the key things to pay attention to? Will a normal website be ok? Do I use a framework with caching on shared hosting? Or is it all about getting it on something like Amazon S3 and not really caring about the code?

Our main fear is the site shutting down at a point of peak traffic.

Some basic background: The site will be serving about 1000 rows of data from a MySQL database but there isn't a priority for this data to be real-time. No e-comm or anything clever - just listings and profiles.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Ali
Upvote accomplished. Don't think this is near the front page, though, alas.

Thank you for commenting on this. I find things to read by triangulating people's comments and this is way more interesting than the average HN front-pager is these days.
> How so? The fact that the company is attempting to minimize legal liability doesn't mean that the contractor was truthful.

Apparently the contractor was truthful enough to warrant firing four people. What's the likelihood of them throwing four employees under the bus if there were no bite to the charges? A purely propitiatory sacrifice like that would be hell on employee morale.

Good on the CEO for taking action. But my applause is diminished by the weasel words in the CEO's posts on the matter. In the first one, he described the person with the allegations as "a former short-term contract employee". The employee's blog post unequivocally stated that he only worked there for the month of August, so the purpose of such a comment on the CEO's part can only be to cast aspersions on his credibility. Now, in these latest comments, the CEO implies that the claims apparently had enough validity to warrant firing a bunch of people while going on to say that not everything claimed was true. Was this just legal ass-covering? In any case, it makes his public apology feel conniving and insincere. It may have been the best legal maneuver (I wouldn't know) but it makes for bad PR.
The site is going to be english-only until I have moderators that read other languages.
Yaptest - A penetration testing framework
I think this is the part where you're doing some magical thinking backed up by anecdotes. Have you done any actual experimental work on those who have failed the question but that you've hired anyways? Have you then been able to objectively measure how well they communicate? Your sample size seems pretty small (a couple hundred) so my guess would be no. I frequently see this kind of thinking about interview questions: "If somebody fails this problem this way, then they'll perform poorly on the job in the following way." Unless you actually have performed a study on this kind of thing, then you're probably just guessing when you say those kinds of things, and you're showing a lot of not particularly rigorous thinking about the relationship between the interviewing process and on the job performance.
There's the concept of a vocabulary growth curve. It shows the number of words occurring once as a function of the amount of text, e.g., how much new words in the first 1000 words? how much in first 2000 words? etc.
You've scheduled a half-hour with a candidate (or explain why longer), and you're going to sit in silence for 10 minutes just so s/he can pick a starting point for a 5 minute monolog on any topic?

Given the option to talk about anything, I'd be concerned if the candidate couldn't pick something in 10 seconds. Summary of last book read, semantic difference between method calls in C++ vs Objective-C, sewing, recreational ballistics, sociopolitical solutions to poverty, ... something? I could spend the allotted 5 minutes just reviewing topics I could go on for 5 minutes about.
Bomberman! This is a well done clone. I wish it were a bit smoother. I died because of the lag.
Fraud growing in scientific research papers
> On he/she

While I consider defaulting to 'he' to be legitimate and acceptable, I actually prefer the zie/zir gender-neutral pronouns when I think about it. http://santiago.mapache.org/nonfiction/essays/zie.html If I ever begin to agonize about the gender of the person I'm talking about, that's enough to kick me over into using GNPs.
Everyone is a cog in someone else's wheel.

People don't get rich by simply taking from others (OK with a few exceptions); they get rich by offering something that another person/business/etc sees as a benefit worth paying for.
But surely that's not the way it works in any other base. In any other base there is a digit '0' such that:

0 = 00 = 000 = 0000 = the number of apples I have if I don't have any.
I'm getting these errors in Chrome (v. 22.0.1229.79 m):
Unexpected response code: 404 :1
Channel error 'BROWSER_WS_ERROR': 'undefined' __runtime.js:1
Channel 0 closed. __runtime.js:1
I see. I was thinking you were headed more in the direction of reverse tunneling to screw with their systems. You never really stated any goal; e.g., to make the target machine difficult to control.

Simply making things difficult for them would be much easier to achieve on the client. Hell, probably the most fun thing to do would be to load the system up with malware so badly that the system was practically useless, then watch as they try to navigate around all the bullshit in order to install their scamware.
$10M in seizures for a worldwide bust is ridiculously not news worthy. This is at "street" value too, which for Viagra is around $10 a pill and for Tamiflu is a cool $50-100 per pack.

To put it into context, a decently large cocaine bust these days is "worth" orders of magnitude more.
Your reply gives an impression of both a shallow and narrow definition of success and achievement.
> Linode is great, EC2 is great, and there are several other providers.

What are some of the others?
HSA Foundation Announces Qualcomm as Newest Founder Member
This is a bit nitpicky, but the math in that example makes no sense. If you're losing 10% of your customers each month and only gaining 30% each year, you are bleeding customers. Not sure how you're coming out ahead in this situation.
Here in Argentina the government put a major halt on imports, bringing serious problems to all kinds of local industries. They are not concerned that those improvised measures can bring down a growing company.
Facebook Query Language (FQL) – The Basic Sauce